The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft Part 56

They treat their prisoners cruelly; scalping them, or burning them at the stake; yet, ruled as they are by greediness, they are always ready to exchange them for horses, blankets, beads, or other property. When hotly pursued, they murder their male prisoners, preserving only the females and children, and the captured cattle, though under desperate circ.u.mstances they do not hesitate to slaughter the latter.[705] The Apaches returning to their families from a successful expedition, are received by the women with songs and feasts, but if unsuccessful they are met with jeers and insults. On such occasions says Colonel Cremony, "the women turn away from them with a.s.sured indifference and contempt.

They are upbraided as cowards, or for want of skill and tact, and are told that such men should not have wives, because they do not know how to provide for their wants. When so reproached, the warriors hang their heads and offer no excuse for their failure. To do so would only subject them to more ridicule and objurgation; but Indian-like, they bide their time in the hope of finally making their peace by some successful raid."

If a Mojave is taken prisoner he is forever discarded in his own nation, and should he return his mother even will not own him.[706]

[Sidenote: COMANCHE WARRIORS.]

The Comanches, who are better warriors than the Apaches, highly honor bravery on the battle-field. From early youth, they are taught the art of war, and the skillful handling of their horses and weapons; and they are not allowed a seat in the council, until their name is garnished by some heroic deed.[707] Before going on the war-path they perform certain ceremonies, prominent among which is the war-dance.[708] They invariably fight on horseback with the bow and arrow, spear and s.h.i.+eld, and in the management of these weapons they have no superiors.

Their mode of attack is sudden and impetuous; they advance in column, and when near the enemy form subdivisions charging on the foe simultaneously from opposite sides, and while keeping their horses in constant motion, they throw themselves over the side, leaving only a small portion of the body exposed, and in this position discharge their arrows over the back of the animal or under his neck with great rapidity and precision.[709] A few scalps are taken, for the purpose of being used at the war or scalp dance by which they celebrate a victory.

Prisoners belong to the captors and the males are usually killed, but women are reserved and become the wives or servants of their owners, while children of both s.e.xes are adopted into the tribe.[710] Peace ceremonies take place at a council of warriors, when the pipe is pa.s.sed round and smoked by each, previous to which an interchange of presents is customary.[711]

[Sidenote: IMPLEMENTS.]

Household utensils are made generally of wickerwork, or straw, which, to render them watertight, are coated with some resinous substance. The Mojaves and a few of the Apache tribes have also burnt-clay vessels, such as water-jars and dishes.[712] For grinding maize, as before stated, a kind of metate is used, which with them is nothing more than a convex and a concave stone.[713] Of agricultural implements they know nothing; a pointed stick, crooked at one end, which they call _kis.h.i.+shai_, does service as a corn-planter in spring, and during the later season answers also for plucking fruit from trees, and again, in times of scarcity, to dig rats and prairie dogs from their subterranean retreats. Their cradle is a flat board, padded, on which the infant is fastened; on the upper part is a little hood to protect the head, and it is carried by the mother on her back, suspended by a strap.[714] Their saddles are simply two rolls of straw covered with deer or antelope skin, which are connected by a strap; a piece of raw hide serves for girths and stirrups. In later years the Mexican saddle, or one approaching it in shape, has been adopted, and the Navajos have succeeded in making a pretty fair imitation of it, of hard ash. Their bridles, which consist of a rein attached to the lower jaw, are very severe on the animal.[715] Although not essentially a fish-eating people, the Mojaves and Axuas display considerable ingenuity in the manufacture of fis.h.i.+ng-nets, which are noted for their strength and beauty. Plaited gra.s.s, or the fibry bark of the willow, are the materials of which they are made.[716] Fire is obtained in the old primitive fas.h.i.+on of rubbing together two pieces of wood, one soft and the other hard. The hard piece is pointed and is twirled on the softer piece, with a steady downward pressure until sparks appear.[717]

[Sidenote: NAVAJO BLANKETS.]

The Navajos excel all other nations of this family in the manufacture of blankets.[718] The art with them is perhaps of Mexican origin, and they keep for this industry large flocks of sheep.[719] Some say in making blankets cotton is mixed with the wool, but I find no notice of their cultivating cotton. Their looms are of the most primitive kind. Two beams, one suspended and the other fastened to the ground, serve to stretch the warp perpendicularly, and two slats, inserted between the double warp, cross and recross it and also open a pa.s.sage for the shuttle, which is simply a short stick with some thread wound around it.

The operator sits on the ground, and the blanket, as the weaving progresses, is wound round the lower beam.[720] The wool, after being carded, is spun with a spindle resembling a boy's top, the stem being about sixteen inches long and the lower point made to revolve in an earthen bowl by being twirled rapidly between the forefinger and thumb.

The thread after being twisted is wound on the spindle, and though not very even, it answers the purpose very well.[721] The patterns are mostly regular geometrical figures, among which diamonds and parallels predominate.[722] Black and red are the princ.i.p.al variations in color, but blue and yellow are at times seen. Their colors they obtain mostly by dyeing with vegetable substances, but in later years they obtain also colored manufactured materials from the whites, which they again unravel, employing the colored threads obtained in this manner in their own manufactures.[723] They also weave a coa.r.s.e woolen cloth, of which they at times make s.h.i.+rts and leggins.[724] Besides pottery of burnt clay, wickerwork baskets, and saddles and bridles, no general industry obtains in this family.[725] Featherwork, such as sewing various patterns on skins with feathers, and other ornamental needlework, are also practiced by the Navajos.[726]

Of the Comanches, the Abbe Domenech relates that they extracted silver from some mines near San Saba, from which they manufactured ornaments for themselves and their saddles and bridles.[727]

[Sidenote: PROPERTY.]

They have no boats, but use rafts of wood, or bundles of rushes fastened tightly together with osier or willow twigs, and propelled sometimes with poles; but more frequently they place upon the craft their property and wives, and, swimming alongside of it, with the greatest ease push it before them.[728] For their maintenance, especially in latter days, they are indebted in a great measure to their horses, and accordingly they consider them as their most valuable property. The Navajos are larger stock owners than any of the other nations, possessing numerous flocks of sheep, and herds of cattle as well as horses and mules. These, with their blankets, their dressed skins, and peaches which they cultivate, const.i.tute their chief wealth.[729] Certain bands of the Apache nation exchange with the agriculturists pottery and skins for grain.[730] Among the Navajos, husband and wife hold their property separate, and at their death it becomes the inheritance of the nephew or niece. This law of entail is often eluded by the parents, who before death give their goods to their children.[731] Their exchanges are governed by caprice rather than by established values. Sometimes they will give a valuable blanket for a trifling ornament. The Mojaves have a species of currency which they call _pook_, consisting of strings of sh.e.l.l beads, whose value is determined by the length.[732] At the time of Coronado's expedition, in 1540, the Comanches possessed great numbers of dogs, which they employed in transporting their buffalo-skin tents and scanty household utensils.[733] When a buffalo is killed, the successful hunter claims only the hide; the others are at liberty to help themselves to the meat according to their necessities.[734] In their trading transactions they display much shrewdness, and yet are free from the tricks usually resorted to by other nations.[735]

[Sidenote: ARTS AND CALENDAR.]

Their knowledge of decorative art is limited; paintings and sculptures of men and animals, rudely executed on rocks or walls of caverns are occasionally met with; whether intended as hieroglyphical representations, or sketched during the idle moments of some budding genius, it is difficult to determine, owing to the fact that the statements of the various authors who have investigated the subject are conflicting.[736] The Comanches display a certain taste in painting their buffalo-robes, s.h.i.+elds, and tents. The system of enumeration of the Apaches exhibits a regularity and diffusiveness seldom met with amongst wild tribes, and their language contains all the terms for counting up to ten thousand.[737] In this respect the Comanches are very deficient; what little knowledge of arithmetic they have is decimal, and when counting, the aid of their fingers or presence of some actual object is necessary, being, as they are, in total ignorance of the simplest arithmetical calculation. The rising sun proclaims to them a new day; beyond this they have no computation or division of time. They know nothing of the motions of the earth or heavenly bodies, though they recognise the fixedness of the polar star.[738]

Their social organization, like all their manners and customs, is governed by their wild and migratory life. Government they have none.

Born and bred with the idea of perfect personal freedom, all restraint is unendurable.[739] The nominal authority vested in the war chief, is obtained by election, and is subordinate to the council of warriors.[740] Every father holds undisputed sway over his children until the age of p.u.b.erty. His power, importance, and influence at the council-fire is determined by the amount of his slaves and other property.[741] Those specially distinguished by their cunning and prowess in war, or success in the chase, are chosen as chiefs.

[Sidenote: COMANCHE GOVERNMENT.]

A chief may at any time be deposed.[742] Sometimes it happens that one family retains the chieftaincy in a tribe during several generations, because of the bravery or wealth of the sons.[743] In time of peace but little authority is vested in the chief; but on the war path, to ensure success, his commands are implicitly obeyed. It also frequently happens that chiefs are chosen to lead some particular war or marauding expedition, their authority expiring immediately upon their return home.[744]

Among the Comanches public councils are held at regular intervals during the year, when matters pertaining to the common weal are discussed, laws made, thefts, seditions, murders, and other crimes punished, and the quarrels of warrior-chiefs settled. Smaller councils are also held, in which, as well as in the larger ones, all are free to express their opinion.[745] Questions laid before them are taken under consideration, a long time frequently elapsing before a decision is made. Great care is taken that the decrees of the meeting shall be in accordance with the opinion and wishes of the majority. Laws are promulgated by a public crier, who ranks next to the chief in dignity.[746]

Ancestral customs and traditions govern the decisions of the councils; brute force, or right of the strongest, with the law of talion in its widest acceptance, direct the mutual relations of tribes and individuals.[747] Murder, adultery, theft, and sedition are punished with death or public exposure, or settled by private agreement or the interposition of elderly warriors. The doctor failing to cure his patient must be punished by death. The court of justice is the council of the tribe, presided over by the chiefs, the latter with the a.s.sistance of sub-chiefs, rigidly executing judgment upon the culprits.[748] All crimes may be pardoned but murder, which must pay blood for blood if the avenger overtake his victim.[749]

All the natives of this family hold captives as slaves;[750] some treat them kindly, employing the men as herders and marrying the women; others half-starve and scourge them, and inflict on them the most painful labors.[751] Nothing short of crucifixion, roasting by a slow fire, or some other most excruciating form of death, can atone the crime of attempted escape from bondage. They not only steal children from other tribes and sell them, but carry on a most unnatural traffic in their own offspring.[752]

[Sidenote: TREATMENT OF WOMEN.]

[Sidenote: MARRIAGE AND CHILD-BIRTH.]

Womankind as usual is not respected. The female child receives little care from its mother, being only of collateral advantage to the tribe.

Later she becomes the beast of burden and slave of her husband. Some celebrate the entry into womanhood with feasting and dancing.[753]

Courts.h.i.+p is simple and brief; the wooer pays for his bride and takes her home.[754] Every man may have all the wives he can buy. There is generally a favorite, or chief wife, who exercises authority over the others. As polygamy causes a greater division of labor, the women do not object to it.[755] Sometimes a feast of horse-flesh celebrates a marriage.[756] All the labor of preparing food, tanning skins, cultivating fields, making clothes, and building houses, falls to the women, the men considering it beneath their dignity to do anything but hunt and fight. The women feed and saddle the horses of their lords; oftentimes they are cruelly beaten, mutilated, and even put to death.[757] The marriage yoke sits lightly; the husband may repudiate his wife at will and take back the property given for her; the wife may abandon her husband, but by the latter act she covers him with such disgrace that it may only be wiped out by killing somebody[758]--anybody whom he may chance to meet. In the event of a separation the children follow the mother. They are not a prolific race; indeed, it is but seldom that a woman has more than three or four children. As usual parturition is easy; but owing to unavoidable exposure many of their infants soon die. The naming of the child is attended with superst.i.tious rites, and on reaching the age of p.u.b.erty they never fail to change its name.[759] Immediately after the birth of the child, it is fastened to a small board, by bandages, and so carried for several months on the back of the mother. Later the child rides on the mother's hip, or is carried on her back in a basket or blanket, which in travelling on horseback is fastened to the pommel of the saddle. Boys are early taught the use of weapons, and early learn their superiority over girls, being seldom or never punished.[760]

It is a singular fact that of all these people the thievish meat-eating Apache is almost the only one who makes any pretentions to female chast.i.ty. All authorities agree that the Apache women both before and after marriage are remarkably pure.[761]

Yuma husbands for gain surrender not only their slaves, but their wives.

Hospitality carries with it the obligation of providing for the guest a temporary wife. The usual punishment for infidelity is the mutilation of the nose or ears, which disfigurement prevents the offender from marrying, and commonly sends her forth as a public harlot in the tribe.[762] The seducer can appease the anger of an injured husband by presents, although before the law he forfeits his life. Even sodomy and incestuous intercourse occur among them. Old age is dishonorable.[763]

[Sidenote: AMUs.e.m.e.nTS.]

[Sidenote: SMOKING AND DANCING.]

They are immoderately fond of smoking, drinking, feasting, and amus.e.m.e.nts which fill up the many hours of idleness. Dancing and masquerading is the most favorite pastime. They have feasts with dances to celebrate victories, feasts given at marriage, and when girls attain the age of p.u.b.erty; a ceremonial is observed at the burial of noted warriors, and on other various occasions of private family life, in which both men and women take part. The dance is performed by a single actor or by a number of persons of both s.e.xes to the accompaniment of instruments or their own voices.[764] All festivities are incomplete without impromptu songs, the music being anything but agreeable, and the accompaniment corn-stalk or cane flutes, wooden drums, or calabashes filled with stone and shaken to a constantly varying time.[765] They also spend much time in gambling, often staking their whole property on a throw, including everything upon their backs. One of these games is played with a bullet, which is pa.s.sed rapidly from one hand to the other, during which they sing, a.s.sisting the music with the motion of their arms. The game consists in guessing in which hand the bullet is held. Another Comanche game is played with twelve sticks, each about six inches in length. These are dropped on the ground and those falling across each other are counted for game, one hundred being the limit.[766] Horse-racing is likewise a pa.s.sion with them;[767] as are also all other athletic sports.[768] When smoking, the Comanches direct the first two puffs, with much ceremony and muttering, to the sun, and the third puff with a like demonstration is blown toward the earth. When short of tobacco, they make use of the dried leaves of the sumach, of willow-bark, or other plants.[769]

The Comanches are remarkable for their temperance, or rather abhorrence for intoxicating drink; all the other nations of this family abandon themselves to this subtle demoralization, and are rapidly sinking under it. They make their own spirits out of corn and out of agave americana, the pulque and mescal, both very strong and intoxicating liquors.[770]

Of all North American Indians the Comanches and Cheyennes are said to be the most skillful riders, and it would be difficult to find their superiors in any part of the world. Young children, almost infants, are tied by their mothers to half-wild, bare-backed mustangs, which place thenceforth becomes their home. They supply themselves with fresh horses from wild droves wandering over the prairies, or from Mexican rancherias. A favorite horse is loved and cherished above all things on earth, not excepting wives or children. The women are scarcely behind the men in this accomplishment. They sit astride, guide the horses with the knee like the men, and catch and break wild colts. In fighting, the Comanches throw the body on one side of the horse, hang on by the heel and shoot with great precision and rapidity. It is beneath the dignity of these hors.e.m.e.n to travel on foot, and in their sometimes long and rapid marches, they defy pursuit.[771] Before horses were known they used to transport their household effects on the backs of dogs, which custom even now prevails among some nations.[772]

[Sidenote: COMANCHE CUSTOMS.]

The Comanche observes laws of hospitality as strictly as the Arab, and he exacts the observance of his rules of etiquette from strangers. When a visitor enters his dwelling, the master of the house points to him a seat, and how to reach it, and the host is greatly offended if his directions are not strictly followed. Meeting on the prairie, friends as well as enemies, if we may believe Colonel Marcy, put their horses at full speed. "When a party is discovered approaching thus, and are near enough to distinguish signals, all that is necessary to ascertain their disposition is to raise the right hand with the palm in front, and gradually push it forward and back several times. They all understand this to be a command to halt, and if they are not hostile, it will at once be obeyed. After they have stopped, the right hand is raised again as before, and slowly moved to the right and left, which signifies, I do not know you. Who are you? They will then answer the inquiry by giving their signal." Then they inflict on strangers the hugging and face-rubbing remarked among the Eskimos, demonstrating thereby the magnitude of their joy at meeting.[773] The various tribes of the Yuma and Mojave nations hold communication with one another by means of couriers or runners, who quickly disseminate important news, and call together the various bands for consultation, hunting, and war. Besides this, there is used everywhere on the prairies, a system of telegraphy, which perhaps is only excelled by the wires themselves. Smoke during the day, and fires at night, perched on mountain-tops, flash intelligence quickly and surely across the plains, giving the call for a.s.sistance or the order to disperse when pursued. The advanced posts also inform the main body of the approach of strangers, and all this is done with astonis.h.i.+ng regularity, by either increasing or diminis.h.i.+ng the signal column, or by displaying it only at certain intervals or by increasing the number.[774] In cold weather many of the nations in the neighborhood of the Colorado, carry firebrands in their hands, as they a.s.sert for the purpose of warming themselves, which custom led the early visitors to name the Colorado the Rio del Tizon.[775]

[Sidenote: DISEASES AND MEDICINE.]

The Comanches stand in great dread of evil spirits, which they attempt to conciliate by fasting and abstinence. When their demons withhold rain or suns.h.i.+ne, according as they desire, they whip a slave, and if their G.o.ds prove obdurate, their victim is almost flayed alive. The Navajos venerate the bear, and as before stated, never kill him nor touch any of his flesh.[776] Although early writers speak of cannibalism among these people, there is no evidence that they do or ever did eat human flesh.[777] In their intercourse they are dignified and reserved, and never interrupt a person speaking. Unless compelled by necessity, they never speak any language but their own, it being barbarous in their eyes to make use of foreign tongues.[778]

[Sidenote: BURIAL OF THE DEAD.]

Although endowed generally with robust and healthy const.i.tutions, bilious and malarial fever, pneumonia, rheumatism, dysentery, ophthalmia, measles, small-pox, and various syphilitic diseases are sometimes met among them; the latter occurring most frequently among the Navajos, Mojaves, Yumas, and Comanches. Whole bands are sometimes affected with the last-mentioned disease, and its effects are often visible in their young. A cutaneous ailment, called _pintos_, also makes its appearance at times.[779] For these ailments they have different remedies, consisting of leaves, herbs, and roots, of which decoctions or poultices are made; scarification and the hunger cure are resorted to as well. Among the Mojaves the universal remedy is the sweat-house, employed by them and the other nations not only as a remedy for diseases, but for pleasure. There is no essential difference between their sweat-houses and those of northern nations--an air-tight hut near a stream, heated stones, upon which water is thrown to generate steam, and a plunge into the water afterward. As a cure for the bite of a rattlesnake they employ an herb called _euphorbia_. Broken or wounded limbs are encased in wooden splints until healed. But frequently they abandon their sick and maimed, or treat them with great harshness.[780]

Priests or medicine-men possess almost exclusively the secrets of the art of healing. When herbs fail they resort to incantations, songs, and wailings. They are firm believers in witchcraft, and wear as amulets and charms, feathers, stones, antelope-toes, crane's bills, bits of charred wood and the like. Their prophets claim the power of foretelling future events, and are frequently consulted therefor.[781] Most of the nations in the vicinity of the Colorado, burn their dead as soon as possible after death, on which occasion the worldly effects of the deceased are likewise spiritualized; utensils, property, sometimes wives, are sent with their master to the spirit land.[782] Those that do not burn the dead, bury them in caves or in shallow graves, with the robes, blankets, weapons, utensils, and ornaments of the deceased. The Comanches frequently build a heap of stones over the grave of a warrior, near which they erect a pole from which a pair of moccasins is suspended.[783] After burying the corpse, they have some mourning ceremonies, such as dances and songs around a fire, and go into mourning for a month. As a sign of grief they cut off the manes and tails of their horses, and also crop their own hair and lacerate their bodies in various ways; the women giving vent to their affliction by long continued howlings. But this applies only to warriors; children, and old men, are not worth so ostentatious a funeral.[784] The name of a deceased person is rarely mentioned, and the Apaches are shy of admitting strangers to a celebration of funeral ceremonies, which mostly take place at night. In general they are averse to speaking upon the subject of death at all. The Navajos, says Mr Davis, "have a superst.i.tious dread of approaching a dead body, and will never go near one when they can avoid it."[785]

[Sidenote: NEW MEXICAN CHARACTER.]

In the character of the several nations of this division there is a marked contrast. The Apaches as I have said, though naturally lazy like all savages, are in their industries extremely active,--their industries being theft and murder, to which they are trained by their mothers, and in which they display consummate cunning, treachery, and cruelty.[786]

The Navajos and Mojaves display a more docile nature; their industries, although therein they do not claim to eschew all trickery, being of a more peaceful, substantial character, such as stock-raising, agriculture, and manufactures. Professional thieving is not countenanced. Though treacherous, they are not naturally cruel; and though deaf to the call of grat.i.tude, they are hospitable and socially inclined. They are ever ready to redeem their pledged word, and never shrink from the faithful performance of a contract. They are brave and intelligent, and possess much natural common sense.[787] The Tamajabs have no inclination to share in marauding excursions. Though not wanting in courage, they possess a mild disposition, and are kind to strangers.[788] The Comanches are dignified in their deportment, vain in respect to their personal appearance, ambitious of martial fame, unrelenting in their feuds, always exacting blood for blood, yet not sanguinary. They are true to their allies, prizing highly their freedom, hospitable to strangers, sober yet gay, maintaining a grave stoicism in presence of strangers, and a Spartan indifference under severe suffering or misfortune. Formal, discreet, and Arab-like, they are always faithful to the guest who throws himself upon their hospitality. To the valiant and brave is awarded the highest place in their esteem. They are extremely clannish in their social relations. Quarrels among relatives and friends are unheard of among them.[789]

[Sidenote: THE PUEBLOS.]

The non-nomadic semi-civilized town and agricultural peoples of New Mexico and Arizona, the second division of this group, I call the PUEBLOS, or Towns-people, from _pueblo_, town, population, people, a name given by the Spaniards to such inhabitants of this region as were found, when first discovered, permanently located in comparatively well-built towns. Strictly speaking, the term Pueblos applies only to the villagers settled along the banks of the Rio Grande del Norte and its tributaries, between lat.i.tudes 34 45' and 36 30', and although the name is employed as a general appellation for this division, it will be used, for the most part, only in its narrower and popular sense. In this division, besides the before-mentioned _Pueblos_ proper, are embraced the _Moquis_, or villagers of eastern Arizona, and the non-nomadic agricultural nations of the lower Gila River,--the _Pimas_, _Maricopas_, _Papagos_, and cognate tribes. The country of the Towns-people, if we may credit Lieutenant Simpson, is one of "almost universal barrenness,"

yet interspersed with fertile spots; that of the agricultural nations, though dry, is more generally productive. The fame of this so-called civilization reached Mexico at an early day; first through Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca and his companions, who belonged to the expedition under the unfortunate Pamphilo de Narvaez, traversing the continent from Florida to the sh.o.r.e of the gulf of California; they brought in exaggerated rumors of great cities to the north, which prompted the expeditions of Marco de Niza in 1539, of Coronado in 1540, and of Espejo in 1586. These adventurers visited the north in quest of the fabulous kingdoms of Quivira, Tontonteac, Marata and others, in which great riches were said to exist. The name of Quivira was afterwards applied by them to one or more of the pueblo cities. The name Cibola, from _cibolo_, Mexican bull, _bos bison_, or wild ox of New Mexico, where the Spaniards first encountered buffalo, was given to seven of the towns which were afterwards known as the seven cities of Cibola. But most of the villages known at the present day were mentioned in the reports of the early expeditions by their present names. The statements in regard to the number of their villages differed from the first. Castaneda speaks of seven cities.[790] The following list, according to Lieutenant Whipple's statement, appears to be the most complete. Commencing north, and following the southward course of the Rio Grande del Norte; s.h.i.+pap, Acoti, Taos, Picuris, San Juan, Pojuaque, Santa Clara, San Ildefonso, Nambe, Tesuque, Cochite, Pecos, Santo Domingo, Cuyamanque, Silla, Jemez, San Felipe, Galisteo, Santa Ana, Zandia, Laguna, Acoma, Zuni, Isleta, and Chilili.[791] The Moquis who speak a distinct language, and who have many customs peculiar to themselves, inhabit seven villages, named Oraibe, Shumuthpa, Mushaiina, Ahlela, Gualpi, Siwinna, and Tegua.[792]

By the Spanish conquest of New Mexico the natives were probably disturbed less than was usually the case with the vanquished race; the Pueblos being well-domiciled and well-behaved, and having little to be stolen, the invaders adopted the wise policy of permitting them to work in peace, and to retain the customs and traditions of their forefathers as they do, many of them, to this day. Attempts have been made to prove a relations.h.i.+p with the civilized Aztecs of Mexico, but thus far without success. No affinities in language appear to exist; that of the Moquis, indeed, contains a few faint traces of and a.s.similations to Aztec words, as I shall show in the third volume of this work, but they are not strong enough to support any theory of common origin or relations.h.i.+p.[793]

[Sidenote: PIMAS AND PaPAGOS.]

The Pimas inhabit the banks of the Gila River about two hundred miles above its confluence with the Colorado. Their territory extends from about the bend of the Gila up the river to a place called Maricopa Coppermine; northward their boundary is the Salt River, and south the Picacho. They are generally divided, and known as the upper and lower Pimas, which branches show but slight dialectic differences. When first seen their territory extended further southward into Sonora. The Papagos, their neighbors, are closely allied to them by language. In nowise related to them, but very similar in their manners and customs, are the Maricopas, who reside in their immediate vicinity, and who claim to have migrated to that place some centuries ago, from a more westerly territory.

All these people, although not dwelling in houses built, like those of the Pueblos, of solid materials, have settled villages in which they reside at all times, and are entirely distinct from the roving and nomadic tribes described in the Apache family. When first found by the Spaniards, they cultivated the soil, and knew how to weave cotton and other fabrics; in fact it was easily observable that they had made a step toward civilization. I therefore describe them together with the Pueblos. The region occupied by them, although containing some good soil, is scantily provided with water, and to enable them to raise crops, they are obliged to irrigate, conducting the water of the Gila to their fields in small ca.n.a.ls. The water obtained by digging wells is frequently brackish, and in many places they are forced to carry all the water needed for household purposes quite a long distance. The climate is claimed to be one of the hottest on the American continent.

The Pueblos, and Moqui villagers, are a race of small people, the men averaging about five feet in height, with small hands and feet, well-cut features, bright eyes, and a generally pleasing expression of countenance.[794] Their hair is dark, soft, and of fine texture, and their skin a clear shade of brown.[795] The woman seldom exceed four feet in height, with figure rotund, but a graceful carriage, and face full, with pretty, intelligent features and good teeth.[796] Albinos are at times seen amongst them, who are described as having very fair complexions, light hair, and blue or pink eyes.[797]